The opposite of freedom of religion is the banning of religion. The Baha’i faith-community in Iran is a case in point. Iran has effectively banned the Baha’i religion by criminalizing it as a religious organization.
On the heels of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian regime tried to eradicate the Baha’i Faith as a viable religious organization by executing its leaders. In 1981, the state summarily executed all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran. In 1984 and 1986, Iranian authorities executed the majority of the members of the new National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran, which had been elected to replace the martyred members of that same council.
The alternative to killing was criminalization. In 1983, when summary executions of elected Baha’i leaders didn’t work (because new Baha’i leaders were soon elected to take their place), the government of Iran simply outlawed Baha’i administration in toto. This was a stroke of evil genius. For the Iranian regime knew that the Baha’i administrative councils had no legal recourse but to comply. In strict conformity to the Baha’i principle of obedience to government, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran, in quiet grandeur, complied with the Iranian ban on organized Baha’i activity by voluntarily suspending its administrative network (August 1983).
In 1996, thirteen years later, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Question of Religious Intolerance (in his report to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights) urged that “the ban on the Baha’i organization should be lifted to enable it to organize itself freely through its administrative institutions, which are vital in the absence of a clergy, so that it can engage fully in its religious activities.” See Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “Iran: International Religious Freedom Report” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2001,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2001/5691.htm).
After two failed attempts, which drew international condemnation, the Iranian leadership soon discovered that, whenever it tried to “cut off the head” of the Baha’i community, the head would grow back, for the simple reason that the Baha’i community would democratically elect a new national administrative body.
For more on this subject and thanks for his comments: go to the internet site Iran Press Watch for an article entitled "Criminalizing the Baha’i Religion," March 15th, 2009 by Dr. Christopher Buck.